Currently, printing of conductors and resistors is well known in the art of circuit board manufacture. In order to incorporate logic elements the standard practice is to surface mount semiconductor chips onto said circuit board. To date there does not exist a system for directly printing said logic elements onto an arbitrary substrate.
In the area of flat panel display drivers there exists technology for laying down logic elements onto glass by means of vacuum depositing silicon or other semiconductive material and subsequently etching circuits and logic elements. Such a technology is not amenable to laying down logic elements onto an arbitrary surface due to the presence of the vacuum requirement and the etch step.
In the area of electronically addressable contrast media (as may be used to effect a flat panel display) emissive and reflective electronically active films (such as electroluminscent and electrochromic films), polymer dispersed liquid crystal films, and biochromal microsphere elastomeric slabs are known. No such directly electronically addressable contrast medium however is amenable to printing onto an arbitrary surface.
Finally in the area of surface actuators electrostatic motors, which may be etched or non-etched, are known in the art. In the first case, such etched devices suffer from their inability to be fabricated on arbitrary surfaces. In the second case, non-etched devices suffer from the inability to incorporate drive logic and electronic control directly onto the actuating surface.
It is an object of the present disclosure to overcome the limitations of the prior art in the area of printable logic, display and actuation.
In general the present invention provides a system of electronically active inks and means for printing said inks in an arbitrary pattern onto a large class of substrates without the requirements of standard vacuum processing or etching. Said inks may incorporate mechanical, electrical or other properties and may provide but are not limited to the following function: conducting, insulating, resistive, magnetic, semiconductive, light modulating, piezoelectric, spin, optoelectronic, thermoelectric or radio frequency.
In one embodiment this invention provides for a microencapsulated electric field actuated contrast ink system suitable for addressing by means of top and bottom electrodes or solely bottom electrodes and which operates by means of a bichromal dipolar microsphere, electrophoretic, dye system, liquid crystal, electroluminescent dye system or dielectrophoretic effect. Such an ink system may be useful in fabricating an electronically addressable display on any of a large class of substrate materials which may be thin, flexible and may result in an inexpensive display.
In another embodiment this invention provides for a semiconductive ink system in which a semiconductor material is deployed in a binder such that when said binder is cured a percolated structure with semiconductive properties results.
In another embodiment this invention for provides for systems capable of printing an arbitrary pattern of metal or semiconductive materials by means of photoreduction of a salt, electron beam reduction of a salt, jet electroplating, dual jet electroless plating or inert gas or local vacuum thermal, sputtering or electron beam deposition.
In another embodiment this invention provides for semiconductor logic elements and electro-optical elements which may include diode, transistor, light emitting, light sensing or solar cell elements which are fabricated by means of a printing process or which employ an electronically active ink system as described in the aforementioned embodiments. Additionally said elements may be multilayered and may form multilayer logic including vias and three dimensional interconnects.
In another embodiment this invention provides for analog circuits elements which may include resistors, capacitors, inductors or elements which may be used in radio applications or magnetic or electric field transmission of power or data.
In another embodiment this invention provides for an electronically addressable display in which some or all of address lines, electronically addressable contrast media, logic or power are fabricated by means of a printing process or which employ an electronically active ink system as described in the aforementioned embodiments. Such display may further comprise a radio receiver or transceiver and power means thus forming a display sheet capable of receiving wireless data and displaying the same.
In another embodiment this invention provides for an electrostatic actuator or motor which may be in the form of a clock or watch in which some or all of address lines, logic or power are fabricated by means of a printing process or which employ an electronically active ink system as described in the aforementioned embodiments.
In another embodiment this invention provides for a wrist watch band which includes an electronically addressable display in which some or all of address lines, electronically addressable contrast media, logic or power are fabricated by means of a printing process or which employ an electronically active ink system as described in the aforementioned embodiments. Said watch band may be formed such that it has no external connections but rather receives data and or power by means of electric or magnetic field flux coupling by means of an antennae which may be a printed antennae.
In another embodiment this invention provides for a spin computer in which some or all of address lines, electronically addressable spin media, logic or power are fabricated by means of a printing process or which employ an electronically active ink system as described in the aforementioned embodiments.
Further features and aspects will become apparent from the following description and from the claims.